Door.



A. RITTER.

DOOR.

APPLlcATloN FILED Aus.5. :912. RENewED MAR. 7. 1916.

41,178,945. v Patented Apr. 11,1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

. lf N w M o Si b n lor lifting either the upper sections orthe UNITED STATES PATENT oEEIoE.

ADAM RITTER, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

DOOR.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Application led August 5, 1912, Serial No. 713,339. Renewed March 7, 1916. Serial No. 82,743.

vproved ldoor for use on freight aid warehouses, and in similar places where it is desire to have the door lift vertically out.

of the way. j n t Another object isA to provide for folding lower sections independently as may be desired either to avoid contact of thKdoor sections with other adjacent objects, or to enable the door to be partially opened for venl tilation or other purposes. .l

Another object is to provide an improved combination of door sections.and'support'` ing and guiding means. f f f v Another 4object is to provideimpr'oved means for raising and lowering and counterweighting the door, including the manner of connecting and actuating same.

My invention further comprises certain details of form, combination and arrangement, all of which will be fullyset forth in the description of the accompanying draw--I ings in which: `o

Figure 1 is an inside elevation of my improved door in the closed position. Fig. 2 is a vertical section on line -X X of Fig. 1. Fig. is a similar section showing the door partly raised by folding the upper door sections. Fig. 4: is a similar view illustrating the door partly raised by folding of the lower door sections. Fig. 5 is a diagram of the lifting and counterweighting mechanism. Fig. 6 is a side elevation of a set of idler pulleys over which the lifting chains travel. Fig. 7 is a side elevation of the liftin pulleys.

'Ilhe accompanying drawings illustrate the preferred embodiment of my invention, in which A represents the door frame, the

opening a of which is closed by the door. The

door comprises a series of door sections 2, 3, 4 and 5, of which sections there may be two or more, preferably four. The door sections are hinged together, at their meeting edges, by means of the respective sets of hingesl 6, 7 and 8. The respective door sections may be either solid, paneled or glazed as desired. At opposite sides of the door attached to the door frame are channel bars 9, which receive pins or studs 10 and 11 carried by the door sections which sei-veto guide the door vertically with reference to the door frame. Rollers or pulleys 12 pivoted at the lower end of door sections 5 travel upon the outer faces of the bars 9, to facilitate the raising and-lowering of the door.

' each other. The'relative weight of the door sections tends topredetermine whether the upper or lower pair of door sections will commence or tend to fold up first, or whether both upper and lower door sections will fold together, and when properly balanced will normally all commence to fold at once, or may be influenced as desired so that either the upper or lower-pair of sections will fold before the other pair commences to fold, and which action of the door sections is frequently of importance to avoid contact withI adjacent objects, or to secure ventilation at points desired.

In opening the door to its full capacity the door sections fold upon each other so as to take positions above the door opening with the respective door sections one beneath the 4other in substantially horizontal planes. In order to raise and lower the door sections I provide preferably two sprocket chains D and E, one of said chains, D, is attached at one end d to the lower left Patented Apr. 11, 1916.

hand extremity of the door section 5., and its opposite end d to the ight handside of the door practically concentric with the hinge axis uniting the sections 3 and 4. The chain D rises vertically from the point d to an idler pulley 20 carried in a bracket 21, attached to the door frame above the door, thence chain D passes in a horizontal direction across above the door and over a sprocket wheel 22 carried upon a shaft 24 journaled in bracket 25 attached to the door frame. After passing over the sprocket wheel 22, chain D descends and passes around an idler pulley 26 attached to a counterweight 27, and thence up and over an idler pulley 28 on the shaft 24, and thence downwardly to the point d where 'it is attached to the door sections. The cham E is attached at one end e to thelower right hand extremity of door section 5, thence it extends in a vertical directlon to and over a sprocket wheel 29 on shaft 24, thence down and around an idler pulley 30 carried by the counterweight 27, thence up and over an idler pulley 31 on shaft 24, thence in a horizontal direction above the door to an idler pulley 32 carried in the bracket 21 alongside the pulley 20, and thence downwardly where its opposite en d e is attached to the door sections practically concentrically with the hinge axls uniting door sections 3 and 4.

The idler pulleys 28 and 31 are loosely journaled upon the shaft 24, while the sprocket wheels 22 and 29 are rigidly mounted upon shaft 24. A spurl gear 34 rigidly mounted upon shaft 24 1s engaged and driven by a pinion c on shaft-35 journaled in the bracket 25; a sprocket wheel 36 on shaft 35 is provided with a hand operated chain 37, by means of which shafts 35 and 24 may be driven in either direction as desired, while the rotation of shaft 24 and sprocket wheels 22, 29 causes the chains D and E to feed over said sprocket wheels to either raise or lower the door sections.

In practice, when the door sections are in closed position, the hinge axes are nearly but not quite in line, and an upward pull upon the door sections is nearly across a dead center, and where the door sections are properly balanced, an upward pull upon the door sections by the chains D and E causes all of the sections to commence to fold at once and to continue to fold pro rata until the door is entirely open. If it is desired, however, to fold the upper sections irst, a spring bolt 40 may be employed toprevent sections 4 and 5 from folding until after sections 2 and 3 are folded when the bolt 40 is drawn, allowing sections 4 and 5 to fold; or, if desired by means of a pivotal lever 41 pivoted to the door frame and actuated by means of stud 42, to break the joint between masses the sections 2 and 3 by thrusting the axes of hinges 6 outwardly from the door frame subsequent to ba foldlng movement of the axes of the hinges 8, the said upper door sections 2 and 3 will not fold up until the folding movement of sections 4 and 5 is nearly completed, and upon completion of the folding movement lof sections 4 and 5 the folding movement of sections 2 and 3 will continue until completed. In like manner, by first breaking the joint between the sections 2 and 3, said sections will rst fold, and the sections 4 and 5 fold subsequently. The reverse of these several movements of the door sections may also be attained. The counterweight 27 distributes the strain to both ends of chains D and E and counterbalances the weight of the door sections so as to cause the door sections to rema-in in any position to which they may be adjusted, and enables the door to be opened or closed with the application of a small amount of power to the hand cha-in 37. When the door is open the door sections are entirely above the door opening out of the way and leaving an unobstructed ioor space.

The mechanism herein illustrated is capable of considerable modification without departing from the principle of myl invention.

Having described my invention what l claim is:

1. A door comprising a plurality of connected door sections pivotally supported above the door opening so as to be folded above said opening in substantially horizontal position when the door is in the open position, guide bars at the sides of the door opening, members carried by said door sections to engage said guide bars, and a plurality of counterweighted flexible members connected to the lower section and an intermediate section to support said door sections in substantial equilibrium at all positions thereof.

2. A door comprising a series of door sections hinged together upon horizontal axes and pivotally supported at a point above the door opening so as topbe folded above said opening when the door is in the open position, and a plurality of positively driven flexible members connectedto thelower section and to an intermediate section to raise and lower said door'sections. Y'

3.' A door comprising a series of door seo- -tions hinged together upon horizontal axes and ivotally supported at a point above the oor opening so as to be folded above said opening when the door is in the open position, and a plurality of counterweighted flexible members connected to the lower section and an intermediate section to support said door sections in equilibrium.

4. A door comprising a series of door sections hinged together upon horizontal axes and pivotally supported at a point above opposite side of the door to raise and lower the door opening so as to be folded above said said door sections. 10 opening when the door is in the open posi- In testimony whereby I have affixed my tion, and a plurality of positively driven signature in presence of two witnesses. counterweighted flexlble members each con- ADAM RITTER. nected at one end to the lower door section Witnesses:

at one side of the door and at the opposite C. W. MILES,

end to an intermediate door section on the E. W. MCCALLISTER. 

